Word.ws English Dictionary

breaking ranks

breaking ranks is the present participle and gerund of break ranks.

Meaning of break ranks

Verb

break ranks (third-person singular simple present breaks ranks, present participle breaking ranks, simple past broke ranks, past participle broken ranks)

  1. To march or charge out of the designated order in a military unit.
  2. (idiomatic) To publicly disagree with one's own group or organization.

Questions about breaking ranks

What is breaking ranks the present participle and gerund of?
Breaking ranks is the present participle and gerund of break ranks.

Words near breaking ranks in the dictionary

  1. breaking one's word
  2. breaking open
  3. breaking out
  4. breaking point
  5. breaking points
  6. breaking ranks
  7. breaking rigor
  8. breaking shins
  9. breaking someone's back
  10. breaking someone's balls
  11. breaking someone's face

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breaking ranks (page history and authors); break ranks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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